A. Avenantoldewage et al., HISTOMORPHOLOGY OF THE DIGESTIVE-TRACT OF CHONOPELTIS-AUSTRALIS (CRUSTACEA, BRANCHIURA), South African journal of zoology, 29(1), 1994, pp. 74-81
The morphology and histology of the digestive tract of the branchiuran
crustacean, Chonopeltis australis Boxshall, 1976 are described from s
erial sections. The foregut is differentiated into a preoral cavity, c
ontaining the mandibles and tongue, an ascending oesophagus, with an H
-shaped lumen invested with longitudinal, circular and dilator muscles
, a horizontal oesophagus with a star-shaped lumen and lacking longitu
dinal and dilator muscles, and an oesophageal funnel consisting of inn
er and recurrent walls. The midgut is differentiated into anterior and
posterior chambers, separated by an S-shaped muscular tube. The arbor
escent midgut glands open laterally into the anterior part of the ante
rior midgut. Columnar epithelial cells line the anterior midgut wherea
s tall, papilliform cells are present in the epithelium of the posteri
or midgut. The transition from posterior midgut to hindgut is marked b
y the presence of very tall epithelial cells. The terminology describi
ng the various parts of the digestive tract of branchiurans is discuss
ed.